Connecting the Dots
by MilesAboveFantasy
Summary: Frankie figures out who Lola's baby's father is - Hunter. She is very wrong. Missing Moment for 3x09.


**Connecting the Dots**

If Hunter wasn't going to work on fixing his relationship, she would just have to do it for him, Frankie decided. Why did he have to act so weird about it anyway? His eyes had gone shifty and the faintest tints of a blush had begun to cross his face when he left the room. They were twins - he should be able to tell her what went wrong with his relationship.

She eyed his open Facerange profile and the chat box with Yael… she could just take things into her own hands.

The thought occurred to her that she was being selfish, but she let her mind override that fear. She wanted to help Hunter, truly, and if she managed to prove that the trust building method that the book had taught her was useful, she could apply it to her own life.

She shook her head, purging doubts and took a seat. What was the worse that could happen?

"Okay, CAT technique," she whispered to herself. "C. Start with a compliment." What should she say? What would Hunter say? He was probably bad at this, knowing her dorky twin. She would have to be cute and simple. No poetry or anything a girl might like.

"You look pretty today?" she said aloud, seeing if she liked the words. Her heart fluttered a bit, so she grunted and accepted it - it was the best Hunter would be able to do anyway - and typed the words.

Yael's chat bubbles popped up immediately. A good sign. She was waiting for Hunter to send her something. Frankie grinned ear to ear. Already proof that the compliment stage of the CAT system worked.

No, maybe not, she thought as she read Yael's message.

'Did Lola "look pretty" when you got that boner?"

Frankie eyes widen and she felt the breath rise from her lungs and escape her lips in a deep chuckle, and she had to fight from bursting out with laughter and alerting Hunter that something was up. She snickered and held her hand up in front of her mouth as she mumbled.

"Oh, ok. I see why you wanted to keep that on the DL, brother."

God, this was hilarious. She would be able to tease Hunter for months over this, as soon as she could find a way to find out in a way that wasn't hacking into his messages. A thought for later. She still had to test out this CAT method.

The next step was accepting responsibility - Hunter was never great at that, but she could wing it for him. They were twins after all. She was used to taking responsibility for his actions when younger anyway.

"I'm sorry, that must've been hard," she typed, then took a sharp intake of breath as she realized the poor wording. She had almost gotten caught. A boy would know exactly when not to use the word 'hard' given these contexts. Plus, it was hilarious. She was going to enjoy teasing him.

She had to focus on that CAT method, before Hunter got back. She backspaced through the word 'hard' and replaced it, mouthing the word along with it. "Confusing." Weird, but it would have to do. Her little brother was weird all right.

Yael's reply was instant. 'How am I supposed to trust you again?'

A similar train of thought that Frankie felt for Jonah. The answer was clear, and Frankie typed the words without a second thought. Hunter would thank her one day. "Because I love you."

'Seriously?' was Yael's reply.

"Yes," Frankie replied, a smile on her face. Perfect. CAT was a success. She would leave the message alone for now. She stood up and returned to the bar table, her attention on the book. It really was helping her, in its own way. CAT was a success, and it was nice to have confirmation that her father was the reason for why she couldn't have a healthy relationship. She couldn't trust anyone…

Hunter returned to the room, and the thought of teasing returned to her. She lifted the book up to block her face - she never had a good lying face, so she would have to play this carefully. Then she saw him facing towards the computer and she knew she had to act fast to distract him.

"Hey, Hunter," she said, a little more excitedly than she intended, but she did her best to reign her voice in before speaking further. "What do you think about Lola?"

Hunter frowned. "What about her?"

"You know, um, just in general," Frankie said. She wracked her thoughts trying to figure out what sort of connection they would have. The Vlog! Lola so rarely mentioned it, but Hunter lived it. She should have made the connection sooner. "How is it working with her on the blog?"

"Fine, fine. She does her job well, and she and Yael are becoming friendly."

Interesting, Frankie noted. "And how is that working out. Two girls, being friends in your gamer group."

"Fine," Hunter muttered. "You're being weird."

"Lola never mentions her new friends, but she really enjoys the makeup blog. She even got to do the abortion talk a last week."

Hunter grinned. "Yeah, she got us tons of hits. And Yael keeps going on and on about how great it is to have been able to help her talk about abortion through our network. You know, when she isn't ignoring me. This "break" thing is really a pain."

"Well, I have a feeling that your break is about to end?"

"Why's that?"

"Just a feeling," Frankie sang. "So, tell me more about Lola. She has had a hard time lately, and I want to make sure the Vlog is right for her. I don't want things to be too hard."

"Lola and I get along just fine," Hunter said with a blush that he hid as he turned around.

"You know, she used to like you freshmen year."

Hunter's eyes lit up. "Did she now? Well, I am not surprised," he said as he threw a wink. "I have a way with the ladies."

Her retort died on her tongue as a sudden realization hit her. Lola had gotten pregnant by a mystery guy, but who could it possibly have been. Lola had wanted to keep it a secret, but why? She had never been shy with her crushes before. She had wanted to keep it a secret, to the grave and all.

Frankie gulped as she looked Hunter up and down, and tried to see if Lola could like Hunter like that, but then felt gross and shuttered.

"Are you okay?" Hunter asked. His tone was more annoyed than concerned, no surprise, but there was concern nonetheless.

Frankie didn't know what to say. Her brother had gotten her best friend pregnant and then gotten an abortion without telling her. She couldn't be mad at Lola, not after everything that she had been through. In some ways, she had pushed Lola away into a bad space. But Hunter… Hunter didn't know. He couldn't. No way would her hot headed little brother be able to keep his head on straight if he knew he got a girl pregnant.

He didn't know… She shook her head, erasing any anger at Lola. She already decided not to be angry at her, but did she have to tell Hunter? They thought would eat her up inside if she didn't, and any thought of teasing Hunter over the boner was gone. This was so much more than she realized. Her head and heart were reeling. She had been thinking all week that she would never be ready for a child - she couldn't even handle a single guy and was reading a book on how to make things okay. But looking at her brother now, she was suddenly hit with a flash of what could have been and what was to come. They were growing up, and there was no going back.

"Franks?" Hunter asked, shaking her. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, oh yeah," Frankie muttered. Oh my god, her brother got someone pregnant. This was… this was… "Are you alright?"

Hunter pulled away. "Why wouldn't I be? Did you hear something from Yael?"

I sure did, she thought, but she couldn't tell him that. "Umm, tell me more about you and Lola?"

Hunter glared. "What did you hear?"

"Don't be mad, I won't tell mom, promise!"

Hunter was quiet for a moment. "Why would you tell mom that anyway?"

"I mean, before… you know, it happened, it would be important for mom to know. I won't tell her now, of course. She would never forgive Lola?"

Hunter's glare didn't falter. "Why would she blame Lola?"

"I mean, not saying that it's her fault, but you know mom doesn't like abortion."

"It's not a big deal."

"How is it not a big deal?"

Hunter brushed a hand through his hair. Frankie could see his face contort as he fought anger and frustration. She was proud of him, but on the other hand, she wanted him to be able to let his feeling out in his own home. Maybe he would have told her if he felt that he could.

Hunter shook his head and sighed. "What do you think happened, exactly?"

"Why don't you tell me?" She would let him choose his own words as to not trigger any angry reactions. It was a technique they learned in family therapy over the summer as part of Hunter's decreased probation, though half the time went to Miles.

Hunter shook his head. "Alright, since you're being weird. Lola and I were working on a video. I do the camera, you know. She was eating chips and dropped some over the table." Hunter groaned and buried his head into his hands.

"And?" Frankie asked.

"Ugh, and then she wiped them off my pants and I got a boner. It's not a big deal, just awkward. Laugh away."

Frankie wanted to. That had been her intent, but she knew the truth now. "And?"

"And what?"

"Don't be so dense Hunter. Lola got an abortion. You two did it and you got her pregnant."

Hunter blinked. "Normally I would mean this as a joke, but you really are insane."

"You got a boner. Who else could get her pregnant?"

"That's not how you get pregnant!? Is this how you started the fire in your room? The only one who needs to talk to mom around here is you."

"So… you didn't get her pregnant?"

"No," Hunter hissed.

"Huh," Frankie murmured. "Then who?"

"I don't really care. I respect Lola, I guess. She can do what she wants."

"Think about it, Hunter. Who would have gotten Lola pregnant? Definitely not Tiny. Or Zig, for that matter."

Hunter grunted. "I'd rather not think of either of them."

"Baaz likes her right."

Hunter chuckled. "She's out of his league. We both know that."

Frankie frowned. "She mentioned that she was seven weeks when she got the abortion. What was I doing seven weeks ago?"

"Why would I know that?"

"Seven weeks, seven weeks," Frankie mumbled, counting back the days. "That was early October, right before Thanksgiving."

Hunter grunted. "That was your girls night. She was over here. I had my friends over too. You set your room on fire trying to tie down Jonah."

"Shut it," Frankie ordered, then sighed. "Lola couldn't have gotten pregnant before then, she said she hadn't had sex. I distinctly remember that she said she didn't, and was surprised when she revealed it a month later."

"Maybe she banged one of the guys. Not me, obviously. Or Baaz, even more obvious. Vijay is gay. You sure it wasn't Zig or Tiny."

"No, Esme scares Lola, and Lola directly said she didn't want Tiny anymore. She did disappear that night though, said she slept in the guest bedroom. So unless Zig snuck to her…"

"Huh," Hunter said. "I think I got it."

"What? Tell me what you know? Lola has been weird lately, she might have told your group stuff that she didn't tell me and Shay.

"Think about the rumors."

"What rumors? People are too busy being mad at her to think about the father."

"From before," Hunter deadpanned.

"What rumor?"

"What is Miles' play about?"

Frankie frowned. That made no sense. "What does that have to do with anything? Miles loves Tristan and wrote a play about it."

"What part does Lola play?"

"The girl he…" Everything clicked. Lola had disappeared that night, and she never liked being alone. She wouldn't have gone to a guest room, she would tear the walls apart with boredom. But she would go hang out with Miles who she had become friends with according to rumors that she never thought to question. Too self absorbed with Jonah, she realized that now. "Oh my god."

Hunter blinked. "Yeah. I guess it's just hitting me too. Does he know?"

"I… he came up to talk to Lola yesterday. He seemed shocked when he heard about the abortion, though I didn't think anything of it. Now that I think about it, he seemed upset. Sad, even. I don't think she told him… can't say I blame her. Miles hasn't stopped talking about Tristan all week. It was probably easier not to tell him."

Frankie placed her hand on the bar for support. "Wow, I'm an awful friend. She knew it was Miles, she probably thought I would hate her for "killing" our nephew or whatever. Oh, damn it, I fucked up Hunter."

Hunter patted her arm awkwardly at first, before pulling her into a hug. "It's okay, I guess. What matters is what you do now. The first step is forgiving yourself."

"Your therapy, I take it?"

Hunter nodded.

"I'll text her tonight. Let her know that I am there for her in a way I haven't been lately. I've been so wrapped up in Jonah… Should we talk to Miles? He's probably hurting too."

"We owe it to him," Hunter agreed. "He's probably beating himself up for cheating and the baby, or whatever. I saw him out by the pool."

As they approached, they saw Miles laying out in a lawn chair enjoying the late autumn night. He watched the stars with a fascination that bordered on being blank, his eyes occasionally drifting down to the laptop in his laps.

"Miles?" Frankie said. He looked up to her and closed his laptop in a rush, but not before she saw a trace of a diaper. He was looking at baby pictures, a scene straight out of a teen sitcom. It made her heart wrench.

"Yeah?" Miles asked.

"How are you?" she asked, voice rising into an awkward pitch.

"I'm… fine?" Miles asked. "What's up?"

"We put it together," Hunter blurted out.

"Put what?"

"You got Lola pregnant."

Miles blinked. "Oh…" He paused to gulp. "That happened, yeah."

They were quiet for a moment before Frankie spoke. "So, um, how are you?"

"Fine, I guess. Not as if I wanted a baby. Dad fucked us up enough, didn't he?"

Frankie hummed and looked at Hunter. "We were just talking about that. We can't form relationships, or something like that. It's why Tristan is so important to you. He's the one who understands you."

Miles looked at her, nodded, and then turned to Hunter. "So I know that Frankie's been having trouble, but what's up with you?"

Hunter looked down. "Yael and I are having trust issues."

"About?"

"Ummm…"

Frankie groaned. "Hunter got a boner for Lola." Then she paused as everything clicked. "Ewwwww. You both like Lola?"

"Shuddup," Hunter growled.

Miles chuckled, and then let loose a deep sigh. "I guess the secrets out. I'm going to have to tell Tristan. I don't want to hurt him."

Frankie got on her knees next to him and placed a supportive hand on his shoulder. "That problem is for another day." She reached over to his laptop and opened it. "Let's talk about this."

On the screen was a baby, which she saw, but she hadn't seen all the detail. Miles had the picture open in photoshop and had scribble some turquoise over the baby's head. "Oh," Frankie murmured allowed. It was an awful edit, but she knew what he intended. "Do you want to talk?"

Hunter crouched on the other side of Miles and took an intake of breath as he saw the screen.

"I'm fine," Miles said. His voice was strong, and Frankie didn't doubt him. He reached over to the screen and flicked over the exit button via touch, and then chose not to save. "I thought about it, for a moment. But I realize I would never have wanted the baby. I support her decision fully, not that I didn't before. But," he said with a shake of his head. "I feel guilty. I made her go through all of this alone."

"Same," Frankie sighed.

"I can't really claim any fault here," Hunter added. Frankie whacked the back of his head and the all chuckled.

They were quiet for a moment, enjoying their time together. For all the faults of their family, they were always supportive of each other. They had to be to make up for their lousy father an inattentive mother.

"We should apologize," Hunter said. "It is an important step, even if she doesn't forgive us. Though I feel like she will - she doesn't seem like one to hold a grudge."

"Very mature," Frankie noted.

"Yeah, little Hunter is growing up. Learning to apologize and getting boners for girls," Miles laughed. "Is that why you want to apologize?"

Hunter's eyes went shifty before he muttered under her breath. "We tried to fire her over it."

Frankie smacked the back of his head. "I take back any compliment on your maturity."

"Don't blame me for your premature compliment," Hunter quipped. Then he whelped as Miles pulled the twins into a hug.

"Thanks guys. You really convinced me that any desire I had for a kid was heavily misguided. I'll talk to Lola before the play this week, you two do you. Hungry?"

"I could eat," Hunter said, disengaging from the hug.

"As long as neither of you are cooking," Frankie added as Miles stood up.

"Definitely not," Miles said. "Mom said there were leftovers in the fridge, and I can warm them up."

Frankie chuckled and smiled as she followed her brothers into the house. She grabbed her phone off the bar as they entered the kitchen and opened Lola's messages.

"Hey, Lol, I'm sorry. Wanna talk?"


End file.
